Where you can be a tourist, a beach bum or a star....and be as you are

Last night was Bunko with the girls....since all of my company was gone and the "motel " is closed for the season, I took the opportunity to join in.

Here comes the Judge....Here comes the Judge!

Lynn Taylor (California) visiting for the summer, directs the picture taking. When the Judge speaks, people listen....but probably not on Grindstone!!

as exhibited by Sue Smith as she clowns for the camera. Sue was one of the prize winners and shows off her bag of fresh string beans. Now you may not think that is such a great prize, however......

if you received a chicken that lays bublegum eggs, as Jerri Couch did, you may prefer the beans!!

Ride my jet skis....lounge under the shade trees

I keep finding pictures from the weekend which I missed on the last blog entry. I know Sarah will want to have her jet ski experience documented! She also started driving the 4 wheeler by herself this year....for some reason Grandma wasn't there with the camera....I can't imagine that!

puttin on that suntan lotion...hope to cause a little comotion...

Friday was another dreary day....we, of course, didn't let that bother us. Robin cooked up her famous dip..Dave and Mike found the beer (early) and sang "it's 5:00 somewhere".....

It was so cool and damp, we actually ended up putting a fire in the wood stove. Emma, when she wasn't picking on her uncle Mike, enjoyed bonding with him.

Erma came down for dinner and got lots of hugs from all the kids. Robin is trying to get Erma and Frank to go to Virginia Beach for Christmas. Salt and I haven't confirmed plans but we are leaning toward Christmas there. The kids all had so much fun last Christmas at Disney they all would like to GO somewhere again as a family. With Robin in school and both she and Mike with new jobs, vacation won't be an option this year.....we are so over committed socially for the next month I can't even think December!!!

Dave had so much fun claiming to be Frank's twin who was given up at birth....they really do look and ACT a lot alike. Erma took it all in stride as they played their game all weekend. The more they drank, the more believable the prank became...

Friday night we celebrated the three granddaughter's birthdays. Here is Sarah showing off some of her gifts.

Emma and Rachael with new outfits for their dolls and yet another "Littlest Pet Shop" addition.

The weekend was supposed to be a total washout. Saturday, however turned out to be one of the nicest days of the summer. Just goes to show, prayer works!!! The kids spent the entire day in the river.

Here is Mike getting what he deserved!

Rachael, Emma and Sarah are going off....like it or not!

I think Mike may be getting even with Sarah....

and Robin relaxing....

OK Emma, is that the bait or a "catch"???

The girls decided to take a canoe trip....Emma was in the water and Robin told her to get into the canoe....Betty was yelling "NO"...she will tip us over; Robin kept insisting!!!

None of them could quit laughing long enough to right the canoe.....

and back to the raft....here Emma and Rachael are in flight!

After a big cookout, everyone hopped in the Grindstone Limousine and headed to a birthday party which was to be held in Thurso Bay at the home of Arnie Cerio.

Here is Shilo, the singing dog. This dog is SO funny....every time someone starts singing "Happy Birthday" he sits up, throws his head back and "sings" the entire song. He gets invited to a lot of parties!

This is a decoy that Frank Slate (our son-in-law) carved for Arnie on his birthday...July 28th.

Carved from scraps left over from building our house.

And here is the birthday girl....Cindi, who is posing in one of her gifts (the "Still Hot" hat and wig) as she is probably being propositioned by Dave. Don't worry Arnie, he is harmless....or not????

After the nice gifts, Carolyn Bazinet presented Cindi with a "reality check"....one of the items being a pair of granny panties with an attached over the hill button.

and here I am, once again trying to keep Dave out of trouble....no easy task!

After the party we all headed to the Dodge Memorial Center for the weekly Saturday night dance. This week was live music with some square dancing thrown in. Brenda Slate got a hold of Dave and taught him a thing or two about square dancing. He loved it (as the pictures show) and was disappointed when we dragged him home. It had been such a long day the girls were way overtired. There is no doubt Dave will be a regular on the island. He said he hadn't had as much fun since the Disney trip....after thinking awhile he said he had so much fun it must be illegal!

No Dave....your OTHER left!

The kids all left Sunday around noon. We hated seeing them go but will be meeting up with them again at the end of September. We will spend a few days in Virginai Beach before heading to Jeremy Bloom's wedding. Mike will be attending the wedding with us but Robin won't be able to get any time off school.

After the kids left, Salt, Betty and I headed for the Annual Schoolhouse Picnic. Rain held off and a good timewas had by all!

I like my women a little on the "trashy" side.......

We sent Evelyn and Ethan out the door in the pouring rain....I really felt bad as they were on their way to a state park for some very wet camping. So far August has a perfect record for rain EVERY day!

Ev had no rain gear with her so we did the best we could by putting a trash bag over her....we call it Grindstone rain gear!!

Salt dropped them off at the mainland and picked up Mike, Robin, Dave and Sarah.

It was graduation day and our dreams called our name....

Tonight we took Evelyn out to the Riverside Cafe for her "Graduation Dinner". We planned to go to her graduation party in June, but she opted for a vacation on the island and a private dinner with Salt and myself.....we did however finally agree to let Rachael and Emma come along.

Ev and Ethan have been having a wonderful time, hiking, swimming, riding both the 4 wheeler and jet ski! This was definitely more fun than sitting through a graduation!!

But tell me....where do the children play???

If you are a teenager, you can pack a lunch and take a jet ski ride to Potter's Beach like Evelyn and Ethan....



If you are under 10 years you can follow Rachael and Emma to the little red schoolhouse in the middle of the island. Urch (Eileen) Slate runs a wonderful program and was blessed with 27 little munchkins today.

Too much of a good thing is a good thing

Two more party invitations yesterday....this particular one I thought was quite interesting, as I love the concept of having the house put on a river chart....especially as almost everyone who visits and looks at a chart asks the question" where exactly are you located"? After checking out the artist's name on the web, I find he is quite a renowned sportsman, author and artist http://www.themapguy.com/ .





The other party (next week) invitation, is written on a scrap of paper and is an invitation to a "Depression/Recession Party....drinks and dinner provided....Stock Market permitting!!
All must wear threadbare clothing and absolutely no jewelry! I can't wait to see the decorations and the menu. Our friend that is hosting it is such a hoot and SO clever with party themes!! Love you Elaine!!!


The BIG party of course is this weekend when all the kids get here. We will be celebrating all 3 of the granddaughters birthdays...... they are all within 3 weeks of each other.


After the 15th we are going on hold, as far as entertaining, for the rest of the summer. I need to make all my doctor/dentist/optometrist appointments, not to mention gathering all the necessary paperwork we will need while we are away for the winter. We have not established a date when we will close up and leave the island. Salt wanted to stay and work a while longer than he did last year. I on the other hand don't want to travel all the way to Raleigh, NC for Jeremy's wedding (Oct. 4) and turn around and come back to the island just to leave again 3 weeks later. We also want to spend some time in VA Beach with the kids before we leave for the winter. I guess we will play it by ear for the present?????

Here comes that rainy day feeling again....

Saturday...... I believe it's time to build the arc!! More rain, and severe thunderstorms. The wind blew so hard here, it blew the screen right out of the screen door. It is such a strange summer!


We awoke Sunday morning to sunshine, which probably means rain tomorrow???? Attended church and was entertained by Ron and Nancy OneSong. www.medinastonefarm.com/OneSong/onesong .


The church was packed....standing room only.

Jeff McArn (minister) had his hands full with his group of Sunday School children. Kids are so clever and certainly keep him on his toes!!

After the service, we attended a "Pot Luck" luncheon in honor of Margaret Taylor's 90th birthday. Since Margaret was brought up in the "south", her son David arranged to have Ron and Nancy sing several songs from her youth that were old southern favorites.

While I hosted a meeting, Salt went to the mainland to pick up Evelyn(my niece) and her boyfriend Ethan. They will be staying until Thursday evening. Ethan said he has been anticipating his return to the river since the day he left last year....They are perfect guests, totally self sufficient and very helpful!

make new friends but keep the old....

Beyond the reach of trouble, there's an island where I go

Framed by a majestic river free of any woe. A place where

peace rules every moment and Dame Nature is a friend

nurturing body and spirit, helping me to comprehend.

Days are blessed on my island and after each one is thru

sleep is filled with dreams of heaven until morning breaks anew.

Never do I tire of this paradise God gave to me, for there's

happy satisfaction in each thing I do and see.

So I sojourn when I 'm weary to this place so far apart....faith

is renewed when I visit the dear island of my heart.

Author Unknown

Wow....I said I wouldn't be posting for a few days but guess I have been away longer than I thought I would be. So much has happened in the past 2 weeks, let me see if I can remember in what order things happened.

First, my dear friends Anneliese Strube and Louisa Chernyshov arrived in Clayton on the 22nd of July. We met at Bellas (overlooking the water) for lunch. After not being together for 28 years, we became so involved catching up, we never left until well after 4:00. It rained most of the time they were here, but fortunately we were very content to sit inside and visit. Both Louisa and Anneliesse became widows within the last two years. Their husbands both worked with Bill (my deceased husband) in Essex Junction, VT. At the time we were in VT, we were all raising children and struggling with overworked husbands. It was so much fun at this point in our lives to actually be able to focus the conversations on ourselves and who we really are as individuals, where we have been, and what our future goals are.

We attended a coffee at Andy and Bev Davison's on Thursday morning. It was a great opportunity for the girls to meet and visit with many of my island friends.

The following morning, we were invited to the Adamson's for coffee and Jim's homemade doughnuts. He has perfected his recipe, and I plan to steal his idea for an outside doughnut cookout when we get back to our winter home.

Enjoying the finished product!! Jim and Ellen are in the back row....Anneliesse on the left and Louisa on the right.

We took a short tour around the island, stopping at the Quilt Show which was held in the Carriage House, a visit to June Augusbury's to take in her magnificent flower gardens and a stop at Acorn Studios.

We took a jaunt down river and stopped at the Boat Teak, where both of the girls managed to find some nifty souvenirs. The store is located above a boat house on Bluff Island. It's a lot of fun, as you can simply tie up at the dock and shop til you drop!!!

Leaving the island....after a very cathartic visit!

and a favorite sight for all visitors...watching for the freighters in the shipping channel.

After dropping the girls off, Betty, Rachael and I headed to the Syracuse airport to pick up Robin. Thunderstorms all over the country and air traffic was a nightmare. She was to arrive at 11:30 p.m. and never made it in until after 1:00 a.m on Saturday. Consequently, it was close to 4:00 a.m. before we arrived back on the island. Sunday we attended "Old Homes Day" at Potter's Beach and then left to take Robin back to the airport. Salt, Rachael and I dropped Rob off and headed back to the island. We stopped in Cicero (about 15 minutes from the airport) for gas and received a distraught call from Robin, saying her flight had been cancelled until 5:00 the next morning. Since she was going to miss a day of work anyway, she decided to go back to the river for another day and take a late afternoon flight the following day. We stopped at Plainview Farms (where they serve turkey dinner 364 days of the year....they close Christmas day) for dinner and headed back to the river ....again!

Rachael, Salt and Robin....Old Homes Day!

After "mom" left for VA Beach and Emma left for Camp, Rachael was a bit lonesome. She was delighted when she was able to spend a couple of days with Paige Durdon. Here they are making homemade ice cream.........

Thursday evening, Betty took Rachael while Salt and I attended a cocktail party at the homes of Ron, Carol and Lisa McDonald along with Joan Flint. The weather was beautiful ....great turnout.

Meg, Abbey and Lisa, preparing the goodies!


This was my first opportunity to catch up with LoLita Pheiffer since her return to the island. Stub, of course, always wants to hop in a picture with a pretty woman!! Salt actually had more of an opportunity to visit with LoLita and he managed to talk her into (which I don't believe was very difficult) being our guide for a month long trip to Alaska. LoLita's son is a commercial fisherman in Alaska and last year she worked for awhile as one of his crew . Nothing firm has been established but I certainly want to pursue the trip in the near future! Alaska is the only state in the Union I have not visited!!

Lauren Ennis Sardi, Janice McPhail and Sally Boss....enjoying the evening.

Friday afternoon (August 1) Betty, Rachael and I headed to the Adirondacs and Camp Trefoil, the Girl Scout Camp to pick up Emma after her weeks stay. Rachael was very glad to see her...life on the island was just not quite as much fun without Emma!! We were informed (by Emma) within 5 minutes of our arrival that next year she would be attending the "horse camp" which of course is about twice the price!!! She earned several more badges and received a couple of special awards for good behavior and....."Best Rain Boots"???????? Whatever!!

Rachael and Emma attended a Hawaiian Luau last night...they are at the beach today and will go to the dance with Betty and Frank this evening. Grandma gets to stay home, do laundry and start cooking for the next crew coming in. My niece Evelyn will be coming in with her boyfriend Ethan. They will arrive on Monday, stay until Thursday and then the following morning, Mike, Robin, Sarah and Dave will be here. They will be staying the weekend and taking Rachael home with them. I can't believe the 6 weeks are already over. Rachael certainly had a summer filled with wonderful memories she can take back to VA. We will miss her!